To describe and to analyze the use of repair strategies in the syllable constituents of coda and complex onset used by children with normal phonological acquisition and phonological deviation, in order to examine the similarities as well as the differences between the studied groups. Besides this, specifically in relation to the coda constituent and based on the Non-Linear Gerative Phonology, we aimed at examining if the application of the adopted resources provides evidences of phonological knowledge. Methods: The analysis included speech data from 60 children with normal acquisition, 30 female and 30 male, in addition to 84 children with deviation, 31 female and 53 male. The age in the normal group was between 1:0 and 4:0, whereas in the deviation group it was between 3:0 and 11:0. In the analysis of the strategies used in complex onset position, the variables: age, gender, preceding and following context, obstruent of complex onset, kind of liquid of complex onset, tonicity, number of syllables and position in the word were considered. In relation to the resources used in the coda, the variables were: age, gender, preceding and following context, kind of phoneme in the coda, tonicity, number of syllables and position in the word. Then, the data were submitted to statistical analysis using the VARBRUL program. Results: The analysis of the complex onset showed that the strategies used by the children considering normal phonological development and deviation were, respectively: simplification for C1V (93%; 77%), alteration of the obstruent feature (5%; 17%), alteration of the liquid feature (1%; 5%), epenthesis (1%; 0%) and metathesis (0%; 1%). In the coda constituent, the children with normal development and deviation used the following resources, respectively: omission of target segment (71%; 71%), omission of target segment with a change in the quality of the preceding vowel (1%; 4%), omission of target syllable (6%; 1%), 14 semivocalization (11%; 14%), substitution for liquid (1%; 3%), palatalization (2%; 3%), metathesis (1%; 2%), epenthesis (1%; 1%), compensatory lengthening (5%; 0%) and other realizations (1%; 1%). In terms of the strategies used in the complex onset, the variables tonicity, preceding context and position in the word were not relevant, whereas considering the resources applied in coda, all the variables were important. Conclusion: The study of repair strategies in both constituents showed more similarities than differences in relation to the kind of repair strategies that children with normal phonological development and phonological deviation use during the acquisition process. In the complex onset constituent, there is less diversity among the resources, while the use of simplification for C1V is predominant in both studied groups. In the coda syllabic position, we found a greater variety of strategies, and the omission of the target segment was the most used by children with normal phonological acquisition and deviation. Besides this, the other strategies applied in the coda position became important due to their evidences in terms of phonological knowledge. / Descrever e analisar o uso das estratégias de reparo nos constituintes coda e onset complexo, empregados por crianças com aquisição fonológica normal e desviante, a fim de verificar as semelhanças e as diferenças existentes entre os grupos estudados. Além disso, em relação especificamente ao constituinte coda, pretendeu-se, através da Fonologia Gerativa Não-Linear, verificar se a aplicação dos recursos empregados fornece indícios de conhecimento fonológico. Método: Foram utilizados dados de fala de 60 crianças com aquisição normal, 30 do sexo feminino e 30 do sexo masculino, e 84 crianças com aquisição desviante, 31 do sexo feminino e 53 do sexo masculino. A idade do grupo normal variou de 1:0 a 4:0, enquanto que a do grupo desviante variou de 3:0 a 11:0 anos. Para a análise das estratégias empregadas na posição de onset complexo foram consideradas as variáveis: idade, sexo, contexto precedente e seguinte, obstruinte do onset complexo, tipo de líquida do onset complexo, tonicidade, número de sílabas e posição na palavra. Para os recursos utilizados em coda foram consideradas: idade, sexo, contexto precedente e seguinte, tipo de fonema em coda, tonicidade, número de sílabas e posição na palavra. Posteriormente, os dados foram submetidos à análise estatística através do programa VARBRUL. Resultados: A análise do onset complexo revelou que as estratégias que as crianças lançaram mão, considerando o desenvolvimento 12 fonológico normal e desviante, foram, respectivamente: simplificação para C1V (93%; 77%), alteração do traço da obstruinte (5%; 17%), alteração do traço da líquida (1%; 5%), epêntese (1%; 0%) e metátese (0%, 1%). No constituinte coda, as crianças com desenvolvimento normal e desviante utilizaram os seguintes recursos, respectivamente: omissão do fonema alvo (71%; 71%), omissão do fonema alvo com mudança da qualidade da vogal precedente (1%; 4%), omissão da sílaba alvo (6%; 1%), semivocalização (11%; 14%), substituição por líquida (1%; 3%), palatalização (2%; 3%), metátese (1%; 2%), epêntese (1%; 1%), alongamento compensatório (5%; 0%) e outras realizações (1%; 1%). Para as estratégias empregadas em onset complexo as variáveis tonicidade, contexto precedente e posição na palavra não foram relevantes no estudo, enquanto que, para os recursos aplicados em coda, todas as variáveis foram relevantes. Conclusão: O estudo das estratégias de reparo em ambos os constituintes revelou mais similaridades que diferenças quanto ao tipo de estratégias de reparo que as crianças com desenvolvimento fonológico normal e desviante lançam mão ao longo do percurso de aquisição. No constituinte onset complexo há menos diversidade entre os recursos, predominando o uso de simplificação para C1V para ambos os grupos estudados. Já na posição silábica de coda, constata-se uma maior variedade de estratégias, sendo o recurso de omissão do fonema alvo o preferido pelas crianças com aquisição fonológica normal e desviante. Além disso, as outras estratégias aplicadas na posição de coda se mostraram importantes pelo que evidenciaram em termos de conhecimento fonológico.

The present thesis deals with the construction and testing of a web-based tool for analysis of Early Middle English texts, created from the data available in the Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (LAEME). The introductory theoretical overview of research into Middle English texts focuses on dialectology and the relation between spoken & written language and it serves as a springboard for the development of the tool. The thesis further presents a detailed explanation of the methodology behind the tool. It describes the structure of the database containing the transformed data from LAEME and then it moves on to the semi-automatic data processing and types of output data. This processing consists mainly in the segmentation of LAEME spelling variants into smaller units and in determining which segments in a group of variants correspond to one another. The thesis also describes the individual functions available within the tool and tests their use on short sample analyses. Although more extensive testing and modifications of the tool are required, it has so far revealed no crucial errors and the tool can be described as useable. The project succeeded in opening new possibilities of faster access to LAEME data. Furthermore, the tool is prepared for future upgrades, including the addition of data...

The aim of this study was to describe the phonological development of Finnish children and to compare phonological development between monolingual Finnish speaking children in Finland and monolingual Swedish speaking children living in Sweden. Twenty Finnish children between 3;1 and 4;10 years old participated in the study. The test used for the Finnish children was a newly established Finnish phonology test, based on the same principles as the Swedish phonology test LINUS. Earlier collected data of Swedish children matching the Finnish participants were used for the comparison between language groups. Comparable words and phonological structures were selected for the comparison. The comparison was made with the measures Whole Word Match (WWM), Word Shape Match (WSM) and Percentage Consonants Correct (PCC). The Finnish children performed well regarding most structures but many of them did not yet master the phonemes /s/, /r/, /d/, word initial consonant clusters and word medial heterosyllabic clusters with /r/. Similar results have been found in earlier studies. No significant differences were found between the two language groups except regarding the phoneme /d/ and consonant cluster /tr/, where the Swedish children performed significantly better. These differences might be explained by the differences between the two languages. For instance, the phoneme /d/ and word initial consonant clusters are more common in the Swedish language than in the Finnish language. Due to the small number of participants, the results cannot be generalized. The huge differences between the two languages, make comparisons complicated and are discussed. / Denna studie hade som syfte att beskriva finsktalande barns fonologiska utveckling samt göra jämförelser i fonologisk språkutveckling mellan enspråkigt finsktalande barn i Finland och enspråkigt svensktalande barn i Sverige. I studien deltog 20 finsktalande barn i åldern 3;1 - 4;10 år, varav 9 var flickor och 11 var pojkar. För testning av finsktalande barn användes ett nyskapat finskt testmaterial som motsvarar det svenska LINUS-testet. Data från svenska barn, som matchade de finska barnen avseende ålder och kön, hämtades från ett redan insamlat svenskt material. Jämförbara strukturer och ord valdes ut för att kunna jämföra språkutvecklingen mellan grupperna. Som jämförande mått användes Whole Word Match (WWM), Word Shape Match (WSM) och Percentage Consonants Correct (PCC). Finsktalande barn presterade överlag väl i de fonologiska mätningarna men uppvisade fortfarande svårigheter med fonemen /s/, /r/, /d/, ordinitiala konsonantkluster samt ordmediala konsonantmöten som involverar /r/. Resultatet stämmer överens med tidigare studier. I jämförelsen mellan de finska och svenska barnen framkom inga signifikanta skillnader förutom avseende ordinitialt /d/ och konsonantklustret /tr/, där de svensktalande barnen presterade signifikant bättre. Dessa skillnader kan eventuellt förklaras av olikheter mellan språken, exempelvis förekommer både fonemet /d/ och ordinitiala konsonantkluster mer sällan i finskan. På grund av lågt deltagarantal går resultatet inte att generalisera. Även de stora skillnaderna mellan språken försvårade en tillförlitlig jämförelse i språkutveckling mellan finsk- och svensktalande barn, något som diskuteras i arbetet.

Föreliggande studie syftar till att skapa en ordlista med tillhörande bildmaterial som kan utgöra ett underlag för att bedöma den fonologiska förmågan hos finskspråkiga barn. Ytterligare undersöks huruvida de utvalda målorden ingår i det aktiva ordförrådet hos finskspråkiga barn mellan 3-5 år och kan bli eliciterade utifrån de valda bilderna. Slutligen presenteras förbättringsförslag för det framtagna materialet. Ordlistan består utav 80 ord och utgår frånBirutés och Stembergers (2010) principer för att möjliggöra en ickelinjär analys. Samtliga fonemi det finska språket är representerade, med ett par undantag vad gäller marginella fonem.Ytterligare ingår ett stort antal diftonger, konsonantsekvenser och andra stavelse- och ordstrukturer. I studien deltog sammanlagt 24 finsktalande barn med ett åldersspann mellan 3–5år. Barnen delades in i två åldersgrupper för att möjliggöra en jämförelse mellan de yngre (3;0–3;11 år) och de äldre (4;0–4;9 år) barnen. Barnens svar kategoriserades utefter typen av promting och eliciteringsstrategier som användes för att elicitera målordet. Dessa kategorier var spontan benämning, semantisk promting, fonologisk promting, alternativ, eftersägning och utebliven produktion. Signifikant fler ord eliciterades genom spontan produktion hos barn i den äldre gruppen än i den yngre. För den yngre gruppen eliciterades signifikant fler ord inom semantisk promting, alternativ och eftersägning. Antalet ord där produktionen uteblev (utebliven produktion) var signifikant fler hos den yngre gruppen. Ytterligare noterades användning av oförväntade böjningsformer och varianter för respektive barn. Resultatet indikerade att fler av målorden förefaller finnas i de äldre barnens aktiva ordförråd än de yngres. Slutsatser från denna studie är att majoriteten av de framtagna orden och tillhörande bilder fungerar för elicitering men att ändringar behöver göras i det existerande materialet. Studiens resultat indikerar att 14 antal ord och 11 antal bilder inte fungerar för elicitering. Föreslagna ändringar är att 11 ord byts ut, tretas bort och 10 läggs till. Ytterligare föreslås att 10 bilder byts ut. / The aim of this present study was to create a word list and select appropriate pictures that can be used in a picture naming test to assess phonological abilities in Finnish speaking children.Further this study investigates whether the selected target words are present in the expressive vocabulary of Finnish speaking children aged 3-5 years and if they can be elicited with the chosen pictures. Suggestions for further improvement of the material are discussed. The wordlist includes 80 words that were chosen according to criteria for a phonological assessment material presented by Bérubé and Stemberger (2010) and enables a non-linear analysis. In the created material all phonemes in the Finnish language are represented with few exceptions regardingmarginal phonemes. Many different diphthongs, consonant sequences and other syllable and word structures are also included. The participants in this study consisted of 24 Finnish speaking children aged between 3-5 years. The children were divided into two age groups to enable comparisons between younger (3;0-3;11 years) and older (4;0-4;9 years) children. The children's answers were categorized according to the type of prompting or elicitation strategies that were needed to elicit the target word. These categories were spontaneous production, semantic prompting, phonological prompting, alternatives, imitation, and unproduced words.Significantly more words were elicited by spontaneous production among the older children than the younger children. In the younger group, significantly more words were elicited by semantic prompting, alternatives, and imitation. The number of unproduced words were significantly higher in the younger group. No significant differences were found for the remaining categories. Production of unexpected inflectional forms and other variations were also noted. The result indicates that a large amount of the target words was present in the older group's expressive vocabulary compared to the younger group. Conclusions of this study are that most of the selected words and pictures are appropriate in picture naming context, but that some alterations to the existing material are needed since 14 words and 11 pictures cannot be elicited to asufficient extent. Suggested alterations are that 11 words are exchanged, three removed, and tenadded, to improve the existing wordlist. A further suggestion is that ten pictures are exchanged.

PhD (Tshivenda) / Senthara ya M.E.R. Mathivha ya Nyambo dza Afrika kha Vhutsila na Mvelele / Tshivenḓa is one of African languages spoken in the Northern parts of South Africa and some parts of Zimbabwe. This proposal focuses on a study of selected phonological processes involving Tshivenḓa vowels. The Tshivenḓa phonological processes involving vowels under this study include vowel elision/deletion, vowel epenthesis, vowel coalescence, vowel nasalisation, vowel harmony, vowel raising and glide formation. In this regard, consonants are not part and parcel of this study. Furthermore, the study enriches the phonology of Tshivenḓa with more phonological processes thereby adding on the existing literature. The study also attempts to motivate and encourage Tshivenḓa speaking people and those who are interested in the language to have a clear understanding of phonological processes which occur in Tshivenḓa. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is the Optimality Theory (OT). The study will be carried out through phonological analysis, that is, field work and word list. Secondary sources will also be used for data collection.

Pronunciation problems of Czech French-learning students and the effectiveness of learning strategies applied by the students of Faculty of Education, Charles University and Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of West Bohemia AUTHOR: PhDr. Kateřina Juřičková DEPARTMENT: Department of French Language and Literature, Charles University TUTOR: doc. PhDr. Marie Fenclová, CSc. This PhD thesis - a comparative study - deals on the segmental level with vowels which Czech French-learning speakers find difficult to pronounce and on the suprasegmental level with prosodic factors. On the former level, closed vowels both labialized and sharp, nasal vowels, schwa and semi-vowels are analysed. The first, theoretical part of the paper contains the phonetic and phonological characteristics of the Czech language and the French language from the viewpoint of vocalic systems of these languages and from the viewpoint of melody-prosody interaction. The second, experimental part, contains descriptions of the pre- research single phase observation of problematic phenomena obtained from three groups of students of KFJL (Department of French Language and Literature; Faculty of Education - Charles University), and findings from the research proper from two-phase observations of two groups of students of KFJL and...

Die Rolle des Arbeitsgedächtnisses für die Sprachentwicklung, insbesondere die Wortschatzentwicklung ist mittlerweile überzeugend nachgewiesen (z.B. Hasselhorn & Werner, 2000). Daran anknüpfend beschäftigt sich die vorliegende Studie mit der Wortschatzentwicklung bei dysgrammatisch bzw. spezifisch sprachgestörten Grundschulkindern und mit dem Einfluss des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses auf diesen Entwicklungsprozess. Besonders die Arbeitsgruppe um Gathercole und Baddeley konnten in einer Vielzahl von Arbeiten (z.B. Gathercole & Baddeley, 1990 a, b, 1993) stabile Zusammenhänge zwischen Arbeitsgedächtnis und Wortschatz bzw. Sprache bei normalentwickelten Kindern und spezifisch sprachgestörten Kindern nachweisen. Sie differenzieren 2 Komponenten des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses: den phonetischen Speicher, in dem akustische Informationen 1,5 bis 2 s erhalten bleibt und dann zerfällt, wenn diese Information nicht durch den Rehearsalprozess, eine Art inneres Sprechen wiederholt und damit aufgefrischt und erhalten wird. Das Arbeitsgedächtnis wurde dabei bevorzugt über das Nachsprechen von Kunstwörtern erfasst. Bezüglich dieses Vorgehen gaben z.B. Snowling, Chiat und Hulme (1991) und Bowey (1996, 2001) zu bedenken, dass durch die Komplexität des Kunstwörternachsprechens und die Redundanz zu anderen Aspekten der sprachlichen Verarbeitung der Einfluss des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses überschätzt werden könnte. Sie schlagen daher vor, eher allgemein von phonologischer Verarbeitung zu sprechen und das phonologische Arbeitsgedächtnis nicht davon zu differenzieren, zumindest müsse die Unabhängigkeit des Einflusses des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses von der phonologischen Bewusstheit nachgewiesen werden. Die Leistungsfähigkeit des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses hängt von den Qualitätsmerkmalen seiner beiden Komponenten ab. Nach Hasselhorn, Grube und Mähler (2000) lassen sich für beide Komponenten jeweils zwei Merkmale identifizieren: Die Qualität des phonetischen Speichers hängt von dessen zeitlich dimensionierter Größe und von der Präzision ab, mit der er akustische Information ablegt und wiedergibt. Die Leistungsfähigkeit des subvokalen Rehearsalprozesses wird von seiner (automatischen) Aktivierbarkeit und seiner Geschwindigkeit bestimmt. Längsschnittlich zeigten Gathercole, Willis, Emslie, & Baddeley (1992) Zusammenhänge zwischen früherem Arbeitsgedächtnis und späterem Wortschatz im Alter bis zu sechs Jahren, im Grundschulalter kehrte sich der Zusammenhang um. Diese Beiträge motivierten die vorliegende Arbeit, in der die Fragen gestellt wurden, ob sich das phonologische Gedächtnis von der phonologischen Verarbeitung im allgemeinen differenzieren lässt, welche Qualitätsmerkmale des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses bei sprachgestörten Kindern defizitär sind und wie sich die Entwicklungsdynamiken zwischen phonologischem Arbeitsgedächtnis und Wortschatz bei sprachgestörten und sprachlich unauffälligen Kindern gestalten. Um dies zu klären, wurde eine Längsschnittstudie realisiert, bei der 64 normalentwickelte und 33 sprachgestörte Kinder im Laufe des ersten und zweiten Grundschuljahres dreimal untersucht wurden; der zweite und dritte Meßzeitpunkt bildeten im wesentlichen die Grundlage der vorliegenden Arbeit. Es fanden sich starke empirische Argumente für die Position, dass Störungen im phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnis eine Hauptursache für die Sprachauffälligkeiten dysgrammatisch-sprachgestörter Kinder sind. Abweichend von den Ergebnissen bei sprachlich unauffälligen Kindern, zeigten die sprachgestörten Kinder geringere Leistungen in allen Bereichen, weniger und niedrigere Korrelationen, das phonologische Arbeitsgedächtnis ließ sich faktorenanalytisch von der phonologischen Bewusstheit und dem phonologischen Langzeitwissen klar trennen. Bei der Betrachtung der vier Merkmale des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses (Hasselhorn, Grube & Mähler, 2000) zeigte sich kein Einsatz der Rehearsalstrategie und eine geringere Geschwindigkeit (letzteres vielleicht auch der Ausdruck eingeschränkter Sprechmotorik, siehe Gathercole, Service et al., 1999). Es gab einen Gruppenunterschied bei der Variablen für die Qualität des phonetischen Speichers. Auch die zeitliche Dimension schien reduziert, die sprachgestörten Kinder zeigten bei langen Kunstwörtern einen größeren Leistungsabfall. Bei verrauscht dargebotenen Kunstwörtern ließ sich nach Ausschluss des Einflusses von Alter und Intelligenz kein Gruppenunterschied mehr nachweisen, der bei unverrauscht dargebotenen Kunstwörtern vorhanden war, so dass die Qualität des phonetischen Speichers eine wesentliche Rolle für die Sprachentwicklung zu spielen scheint. Bei den dysgrammatischen Kindern ließ sich weiterhin eine kausale Asymmerie zwischen phonologischem Arbeitsgedächtnis und Wortschatz finden, dergestalt, dass das frühere phonologische Arbeitsgedächtnis einen größeren Einfluss auf den späteren Wortschatz hatte, als umgekehrt. Diese wurde wegen des Entwicklungsrückstands der sprachgestörten Kinder in dieser Form erwartet, bei den sprachlich-unauffälligen Kindern ließ sich kein Zusammenhang zeigen. Die phonologische Bewusstheit zeigte keinen entwicklungsrelevanten Einfluss auf den Wortschatz. Zusammenfassend ist zu sagen, dass die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studie die Hypothese stützen, dass die Ursache für kindliche Störungen des Spracherwerbs im phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnis und speziell in der Qualität des phonetischen Speichers zu suchen sind. Literatur Bowey, J. A. (1996). On the association between phonological memory and receptive vocabulary in five-year-olds. Journal of Experimantel Child Psychology, 63(1), 44-78. Bowey, J. A. (2001). Nonword repetition and young children`s receptive vocabulary: a longitudinal study. Applied Psycholinguistics, 22, 441-469. Gathercole, S. E. & Baddeley, A. D. (1990a). Phonological memory deficits in language disordered children: Is there a cusal connection? Journal of Educational Psychology, 29, 336-360. Gathercole, S. E. & Baddeley, A. D. (1990b). The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: A study of young children learning new names. British Journal of Psychology, 81, 439-454. Gathercole, S. E. & Baddeley, A. D. (1993). Working memory and language. Hove, UK: Erlbaum. Gathercole, S. E., Service, E., Hitch, G.J., Adams, A.-M. & Martin, A. J. (1999). Phonological short-term memory and vocabulary development: Furter evidence on the nature of relationship. Applied cognitive psychology, 13, 65-77. Gathercole, S. E., Willis, C., Emslie, H., & Baddeley, A. D. (1992). Phonological memory and vocabulary development during the early school years: a longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 28, 887-898. Hasselhorn, M., Grube, D. & Mähler, C. (2000). Theoretisches Rahmenmodell für ein Diagnostikum zur differentiellen Funktionsanalyse des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses. In M. Hasselhorn, W. Schneider & H. Marx, Diagnostik von Lese-Rechtschreib-Schwierigkeiten, Tests und Trends, Bd. 1 (S.167-182). Hogrefe: Göttingen. Hasselhorn, M. & Werner, I. (2000). Zur Bedeutung des phonologischen Arbeitsgedächtnisses für die Sprachentwicklung. In H. Grimm (Hrsg.), Sprachentwicklung (Enzyklopädie der Psychologie, Themenbereich C: Theorie und Forschung, Serie III Sprache, Bd. 3) (S. 363-378). Göttingen: Hogrefe. Snowling, M., Chiat, S., & Hulme. C. (1991). Words, non-words, and phonological processes: Some comments on Gathercole, Willis, Emslie, and Baddeley. Applied Psycholinguistics, 12(3), 369-373.

A systemic perspective was employed in completing a phonological analysis and developing an intervention plan for Jarrod, a 7;0 year old child who exhibited a severe speech sound disorder characterized by inconsistency. Results of the Systemic Phonological Analysis of Child Speech (SPACS) revealed a limited sound system that was characterized by phonotactic inventory constraints, positional constraints, and sequence constraints. Mapping the child-to-adult sound systems through phoneme collapses revealed a logical and symmetrical system that maintained systematicity, yet permitted variability. Based on the organizational principles suggested by the phoneme collapses, targets were identified for intervention using the distance metric approach, which is based on the function of sounds within a given system rather than the characteristics of a given sound, and assumes that targets will interact dynamically with the child's unique sound system. Finally, a multiple oppositions treatment approach intended to facilitate learning across phoneme collapses and lead to system-wide phonological restructuring was described.

No description available.

Spoken language is produced with a great deal of variability with which listeners must be able to cope. One source of variation is coarticulation, which is due to articulatory planning and transitions between segments. Recently, the temporal features of coarticulation were investigated during a picture/spoken-word matching task by using spliced stimuli carrying either congruent or incongruent subphonemic cues at the CV juncture (Archibald & Joanisse, 2011). ERPs were recorded with attention paid to the phonological mapping negativity (PMN) (Connolly & Phillips, 1994; Newman & Connolly, 2004) – a prelexical response sensitive to violations of phonological expectations. Results found that the PMN varied in response to coarticulation violations and concluded that phonetic features in spoken words influence prelexical processing during word recognition. Using a written-/spoken-word paradigm, Arbour, 2012 controlled phonological shape by using onsets that were either fricatives or stops, hypothesizing that coarticulatory information would be differentially processed due to their temporal differences. Findings supported the PMN’s sensitivity to coarticulation but also showed that temporal and physical differences between onsets modulated the effect. These results raise the question of whether acoustic distance between vowels will modulate prelexical processing of speech as reflected by the PMN amplitude: the focus of the current study. Words were organized into minimal sets such that all onset/coda combinations appeared with each vowel provided that English words resulted. Vowels were one of /i, u, æ, ɑ/, maximizing acoustic distance (height and backness). Data from 20 subjects indicate that the PMN is sensitive to the degree of difference between the original and post-splice vowels. When the number of distinctive features changing is greater, the result is an earlier, more robust PMN. This suggests that the rate of speech recognition is not static but dynamic, and is dependent on likeness of subphonemic features. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)